Finding the Light in the Darkness
by ourlittle-infinnity
Summary: Rachel found him in her darkest hour. He helped her and picked her up when she was at her weakest, and he was only a stranger.
1. Chapter 1

**So I got this idea while randomly sitting in class and I just had to write about it. I'm not the greatest writer in the world, but I hope you enjoy it. Reviews are greatly appreciated xo**

This was not something Rachel Berry normally did. This was something way out of her comfort zone. How did Sam Evans, one of the most popular boys in school, convince Rachel Berry to come to Santana Lopez's birthday bash? She knew there would be underage drinking and possible chance of cops showing up, but she took Sam's invitation anyway, which was totally unlike her. She felt nervous as she went through her closet, searching for something fun and not covered in animal patterns.

"Oh honey no, this isn't your cousin's 4 year old dinosaur themed birthday party, this is Santana Lopez's birthday bash, you _know_ how huge this party is", Kurt, her best friend, was sitting on the edge of her bed to help her choose an outfit for the party.

Rachel knew how huge and important this party was, Santana had been having these birthday bashes since she could remember. Never once had she been invited and while she would always tell her friends she didn't care, inside she sort of did. Rachel wasn't the partying type girl, but this was her senior year of high school and she knew she had to do something to make her high school life memorable besides her participation in multiple school activities. So when Sam Evans asked if she would be interested in going, she jumped at the chance.

"I know, I know", she sighed and looked in the mirror at her reflection, holding the dress up to her body to examine it before tossing it on the bed with the other ones that Kurt had immediately said no to.

"Oh my god please wear this", Kurt pulled out a fitted soft pink dress, quickly handing it to Rachel.

"Oh Kurt, I don't know, it's a little slutty don't you think? I'm not trying to impress anyone at this party", She looked at the dress, going to the bathroom anyways to change into it for Kurt.

"Rachel, you and Jesse have been over for months now, it's time you got back out there and dated! Or at least hooked up", he leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom with his arms crossed.

"Come on Kurt, you know me, I'm not the hook up kind of girl", she came out of the bathroom and looked in the mirror at the dress, she had to admit, she looked amazing in it.

"You're wearing that, you have no choice, it looks _perfect_ on you Rach!", he clapped excitedly. "Now onto makeup!"

After arguing over what makeup to wear for 20 minutes, Rachel was ready to go wearing her hair down and wavy with the soft pink dress that accentuated her olive skin tone and flats (even though Kurt argued that she should be wearing heels).

Rachel grabbed her keys and started walking towards her car, Kurt getting in the passenger seat. "I can't believe you got me an invite too, this is insane", he immediately turned the radio station to showtunes.

"Well, you know I've been tutoring Sam in spanish, so basically he'd do anything for me", she smiled as she started the car and drove towards Santana Lopez's house.

"Do you like Sam?", Kurt turned to her, poking her side playfully.

She rolled her eyes, "Like I even have a chance! He's dating Quinn remember? And besides, blondes are not really my type", she kept her eyes on the road as she spoke.

"Wow, didn't even you know had a type Rachel, I'll scope out some potential suitors for you at the party", he nodded and before Rachel could comment, Defying Gravity started playing and they sang along until they reached the Lopez residence. Santana lived in a huge mansion, her dad was a doctor and her mother a psychiatrist, not only that but she was an only child. Needless to say, Santana Lopez got everything she wanted and was the top bitch at McKinley High. Every girl worshipped the ground the captain of the Cheerios walked on. Rachel hated to admit it, but ever since 6th grade she has wanted to be her friend, but she knew that was impossible because 1) she wasn't cool 2) Santana had been harrassing her since the 6th grade.

"Rachel, come on! Let's go inside", he smiled and she got out of the car, linking their arms together as they walked inside the huge booming house. The lights were dimmed and the music was playing extremely loud. Rachel wondered how people could even talked to each other with the music so loud.

"I can't believe it! I feel like we're finally one of them!", he smiled widely, grabbing a red solo cup off a table and taking a huge gulp.

"Kurt! You don't even know what that is!", Rachel saw people already stumbling around, assuming they drank before the party even began.

"I don't really care what it is, but it's good! Try some!", he handed her a cup and he took another gulp of his.

"Kurt, I'm the designated driver, I can't drink remember", she looked at him, putting the cup back down on the table.

He rolled his eyes, "Loosen up Rach, this is a once in a lifetime moment, just live for once", he finished the cup and grabbed another one.

Rachel sighed and looked around at everyone else, catching the eye of a guy with a mohawk, Kurt noticed their eye contact and smirked, "Go over there Rachel Barbra Berry, make a move", he whispered, his breath already smelling strong of alcohol.

"What? No no, we just made awkward eye contact, it was an accident", she thought it was until he started walking over towards her. She quickly prayed hoping that he wasn't coming towards her, she still wasn't over Jesse and was in no means ready to start dating yet. But she had to admit he was very good looking and quite the opposite of the boys she usually dated.

The mohawk guy walked towards her and smiled, "Hey there sexy", he smirked, a beer in his hand.

Rachel immediately blushed and felt uncomfortable, "Um hi there", Kurt was watching like a kid in a cinema.

"Wanna go dance babe?", the mohawk guy smirked again.

Before Rachel could comment by saying she was not his "babe", Kurt quickly interjected, "Rachel would LOVE to dance with you! She's a very good dancer, she's won many awards for her skillful dance technique", he nodded, Rachel could tell Kurt was alreading getting tipsy.

She blushed before she could respond, the mohawk guy grabbed her hand and pulled her to the group of people dancing and grinding on each other. This was way out of her comfort zone, and didn't know if she'd be able to dance like how those girls were.

"What's wrong babe?", he started dancing very close to her.

"I'm not really comfortable dancing like this", she looked up at him.

"I know what will help", the mohawk guy walked off and came back a few minutes later with a bottle filled with a pink liquid. "Drink one of these, then you'll loosen up a little".

Not wanting to seem like a buzzkill in front of someone as good looking as the mohawk guy, she started drinking down the substance.

After her second one, Rachel began feeling tipsy and decided that she shouldn't have anymore so she'll have time to sober up to drive Kurt and her back to her house. The alcohol in her system loosened her up a little, letting herself dance against the guy. After a while of dancing, the music stopped and he whispered in her ear.

"Let's go somewhere quiet", he words were slurred this time, and he didn't seem as stable as he was when she first encountered him. Rachel's eyes widened and she quickly turned to look at him.

"I don't think that's a good idea, I'm not into that", she gave him a serious look.

"Come on, it'll be fun", he put his hands on her ass and squeezed hard.

"Please stop, you're hurting me", she tried to push him away.

He looked at her more sternly, grabbing her wrist, "Come on", he pulled her into an empty room and started kissing her neck roughly.

Rachel panicked and tried to push him off, "Stop! Please please, just let me go!"

"Just shut up", he pushed her onto the bed and pinned her down. Tears started flowing down her eyes, she was so scared that she couldn't even scream. He took off her clothes, slapping her hard across the face when she tried to stop him.

"You little bitch, you're going to do what I say, got that?", he took off his clothes and then continued pulling hers off.

Rachel kept crying, "Get off of me please! Please stop!", her screams were barely even audible from the loud music outside of the room. Then she heard a door open.

"Hey dude I've be- what the fuck?", the tall guy noticed that something was wrong and quickly pushed the mohawk guy off of Rachel. "Puck what the fuck? What is wrong with you? Get the hell out of here!"

Puck grabbed his clothes and stumbled out, cursing loudly.

"Hey hey, are you okay?", the tall guy sat on the bed and looked at Rachel worriedly.

Rachel was shaking and crying, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Hey, everything will be okay, let me drive you home", he looked at her, trying to speak gently to calm her down, "I'm Finn by the way."

**Please tell me what you think and if I should continue this story :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**this is a really small chapter, but I just wanted to see if anyone is interested in this story. If you are then I'll continue to write and make the chapters longer. Please give be feedback! :)**

"What's your address?" Finn looked at her once he got into the car. Rachel didn't say a word, all she could do was stare out the window with an empty expression.

"I need to know where you live…can I at least know your name?" he looked at her again, but she gave no answer. He sighed softly and put his hand on her shoulder, "Look, I-"

"Don't touch me", she said coldly, breaking her silence. He quickly removed his hand and put them on the steering wheel.

"I'm sorry, I can't even imagine how you must feel right now, all I want to do is get you home safely", Finn said in a soft caring tone. Rachel could feel the compassion in his voice and turned to look at him for the first time.

"It's Rachel, Rachel Berry", she looked at him again before turning back to the window.

"Oh shit, you're Mr. Berry's daughter aren't you?" his eyes widened, "He talks about you in class all the time, honestly I thought you were some homeschooled freak who spends all day watching documentaries on Judy Garfield."

Rachel couldn't help but let out a little giggle, "It's _Garland_."

Finn smiled once he heard her giggle, "I made you smile I win."

She smiled again and looked down, "Thank you for what you did in there, it could have been worse if you hadn't of shown up." She was still a little shaking, and the sting of the Mohawk guy's hand against her face was still evident. She owed a lot to this Finn guy for saving her, he was her hero.

"I can't believe he would do something like this, it's absolutely inexcusable", he shook his head in disgust, "He's no longer my friend and if you want to press charges or something, hey, I'll be right beside you."

"I don't want anyone knowing about this, I just want this to stay between us…and just forget it", she swallowed and tried to hold back the tears that were welling up again. "That was the scariest moment of my life, he was going to _rape_ me. If-f you wouldn't have been there he would have kept going and I would have been so helpless", the tears rolled down her cheeks rapidly and she put her head in her hands.

He looked at her and he just really wanted to hold her, even though he didn't know her very well, she needed somebody and he wanted to be that somebody, that friend to come to. "I won't say anything, but if you ever want to talk about it or just cry, you can always call me okay? This isn't some trick to just get your number, I'm serious I'll be there."

Rachel sniffled and wiped her tears while she nodded, "I can't go home right now, it's too early, my dads will be up and they'll know something is wrong, can we just stay here?"

He looked at her with understanding and nodded, "Sure, we could go to my dorm? If you want to, I know that sounds really bad, but all the boys are out for the night so nobody will be there and we can just chill? I understand if you don't want to, I mean after all that's just happened-"

"He doesn't live with you does he?" Rachel looked at him with fear in her eyes. Finn knew by the way she said _he_ she meant Puck and he quickly shook his head.

"He dropped out last semester, don't worry", he looked into her eyes waiting for her answer on if she wanted to go or not.

"Okay, let's go…I don't have anywhere else to go", she sniffled and wiped the rest of her tears away.

"Wow that didn't make me feel like a last resort at all", he said jokingly, he could hear her laughing a little as he started the car.


	3. Chapter 3

**So since there's a few people who want me to continue, I'll keep writing the story. Remember to review and I apologize for any grammar mistakes, especially my excessive use of commas. **

Finn parked his truck once they reached the parking lot to his dorm building. Rachel looked around the parking lot to see it was mostly empty like he had previously said. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and she quickly took it out. Kurt had left her a frantic text message wondering where she was.

"Rachel Barbra Berry WHERE ARE YOU I checked every room and someone told you left with A GUY! You better text me back now missy!", Rachel sighed, if only Kurt knew what she had gone through tonight. She knew eventually she would tell Kurt, he was her best friend after all and sooner or later he would figure out something was wrong. She quickly typed back a reply, "I'm okay, I'm sorry I left, I wanted to go home and I was too intoxicated to drive myself. Keep having fun! I'll see you tomorrow :)"

She tried to sound cheery in the message to throw Kurt off, but she knew he would ask a million questions tomorrow on why she left so early. Before she could get out of his truck, Finn was already on the other side opening the door for her, "After you my lady", he said, not meaning for it to come out the way it did. "Not that you're my lady I-I it's just an expression-", he started rambling, not wanting to offend her.

She grinned a little, "It's fine, I know what you meant, thank you for holding the door", she followed him into the building and looked around. She had never been in a dorm before, of course she had been on campus multiple times since her father taught Psychology, but she had never really had a chance to look around. Not that she planned to go to Lima State, her dreams were always much bigger than this little town in Ohio. She followed Finn as he greeted the two guys at the front desk and lead her to a huge common room on the second level.

"See, told you no one was her", he smiled as he looked at her. "Do you want to talk? Do you want anything to eat? Anything you want I can get it for you." He didn't know what Rachel was going through, but he tried to put himself in her shoes. She was a beautiful girl who didn't seem like much of a party goer that happened to get mixed up with the wrong guy, the guy who just so happened to be one of his "so-called" friends.

Rachel looked around at the common room. It definitely screamed college guys, but surprisingly it wasn't as messy as she thought it would be in there. The room included a huge flat screen tv, a pool table, several couches, a ping pong table, and a station for cooking with equipment such as, a microwave.

"Popcorn, maybe?", she didn't want to be a hassle, he was being so kind to her, she didn't want to be a bother more than she already had been.

"Coming right up", he grinned and went over to the food and started heating up the popcorn, as he waited he looked over at Rachel who was looking at her hands. He could tell she seemed uncomfortable and decided to try to converse with her. "So, tell me about yourself Rachel."

She looked up once she realized he was talking to her, "Oh, there's not much to say really. I have two dads, I've lived in this hell hole called Lima my whole life, and I love to perform", she looked up at him as he came over with the steaming bag of popcorn.

"Yeah, your dad is really proud of you, I hear it 24/7", he laughed a little. "But you must be really good to get into NYADU or NYADO whatever Mr. Berry calls it, as you can tell I know nothing about the arts", he chuckled again.

Rachel giggled slightly, "Nice try, it's NYADA, but thank you", she popped a few pieces of popcorn into her mouth. "Now it's your turn to tell me about you", she shifted her body so she was facing him, warming up to him a little more.

Finn gave his little half smirk and chewed a piece of popcorn, "Oh? So now you want to know about me huh? Well, to be honest there's not much to tell. I'm from Ohio, I'm an only child, and I play the drums for fun", he shrugged. "See told you, I'm not interesting, I don't even know what I'm majoring in yet. You seem way more organized than me."

"No, that is interesting, see you do know about the arts", she smiled, "Well I am sort of a planner, I already have my life planned out for the next 10 years."

Finn raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "Is that so? What's exactly in this 10 year plan of yours?"

"Well, first college then I'll get a leading role on Broadway, get married have 3 children and win a Tony award and then perform on Broadway until I die", she grinned and Finn started laughing, "It's not a joke, I'm being dead serious."

"Look Rachel, I believe you can do it, I know I don't know you but by the way your dad describes your voice I'm sure you'll win those Tony things, but planning your life is so lame", he looked at her seriously.

"You're kidding me right? What's wrong with knowing what I want to do with my life?" she was appalled by the way he was talking to her.

"You can't just plan your whole life out, try to live and see what happens, don't go by a planner, just live", he grinned and finished the rest of the popcorn that was left in the bag. Getting up to throw it away.

"Yeah, you know what happened last time I tried to _live_? I was almost raped, so you know what I'm going to stick to my _lame_ plan", she got up and walked over to the window, looking outside.

Finn realized he had fucked up big time and quickly walked over to her, "I'm sorry, maybe my go with the flow plan isn't for everybody, I was just making a suggestion", he tried to put his hand on her shoulder as a way to show that he was truly sorry, but she shrugged it off, intimate contact seemed ruined for her now even if it was just friendly.

"You're trying to fix me, but it's not going to work", she walked back over to the couch and sat down. "He called me such horrible names and even when I screamed he didn't care", she burst into tears again and Finn stopped himself from holding her. He really didn't want to bother her by touching her again.

"Rachel, there's nothing I can do or say to understand what you're going through, but I'll be here for you whenever you need me. Puck is dead to me now, if I ever see him I will beat his ass", Rachel lifted her head and looked at him.

"Thank you Finn, you've done a lot for me", she sniffled and wiped her tears.

"Hey, let's watch a movie or something, you know if you want to get your mind off of it", Finn said and Rachel nodded watching as he turned on the TV and looked through the movie channels. He passed over one of his favorite movies, not thinking Rachel would want to watch it.

"Wait, let's watch 50 First Dates, I love that movie", Rachel said as he flipped through channels. Finn's eyes widened and looked at her.

"You love that movie too?" he smiled excitedly and Rachel gave him a weird expression.

"Well yeah, who doesn't?" she looked at him and Finn happily flipped it to the channel and laid back on the couch, making sure to keep his distance from her.

They laughed throughout the movie and occasionally blurted out lines as the lines were being said in the film. Rachel was glad to get her mind off the horrendous event that took place hours ago, but knew eventually she would have to revisit those dark and empty feelings. Before the movie ended, Rachel drifted off to sleep, her head moving into his lap. Finn felt the contact and smiled, he couldn't help but realize how cute she was sleeping, so peaceful. He slowly got up and grabbed his pillow and blanket from his dorm room and put it on her. He smiled one last time before getting on another couch and falling asleep without a pillow or blanket.


End file.
